1990: The Bronx Warriors

1990: I guerrieri del Bronx

Italy

1982

97 Min

Color

2.35:1

Italian

Currently 3.0/5 Stars.
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SCR Elisa Briganti, Enzo G. Castellari, Dardano Sacchetti

CAST Christopher Connelly, Fred Williamson, Vic Morrow, Mark Gregory, Stefania Girolami Goodwin, Ennio Girolami, George Eastman, Joshua Sinclair

MUSIC Walter Rizzati

Synopsis

In a post-apocalyptic New York City, a policeman infiltrates the Bronx, which has become a battleground for several murderous street gangs.

Director

Enzo G. Castellari (born July 29, 1938) is an Italian film director. He became famous during the 1960s by directing several spaghetti westerns with such titles as Go Kill and Come Back (Vado… l’ammazzo e torno, 1967) , One Dollar Too Many (1968), Seven Winchesters for a Massacre (Sette winchester per un massacro, 1967) and Go Kill Everybody and Come Back Alone (Ammazzali tutti e torna solo, 1968). His films exhibited a flair for violent action and gunfights, often using slow-motion to spectacular effect. His film Keoma (1976) is considered the last great film of the genre.

Castellari was born in Rome as Enzo Girolami. He is the son of director Marino Girolami, aka Franco Martinelli. Castellari was a pioneer in the early Italian crime film genre, with High Crime (La polizia incrimina la legge assolve, 1973) and Big Racket (Il grande racket, 1976). In the 1980s, his career suffered somewhat from the drop of quality in Italian genre films, and he found himself churning out financially successful B-movies like The New Barbarians (I nuovi barbari, 1982) or 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1990: I guerrieri del Bronx, 1982). His film Great White (L’ultimo squalo, 1981) was pulled from theaters following a successful lawsuit from Universal Pictures, who accused the filmmakers of plagiarizing Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. As Italian cinema declined, Castellari found work in television and as an action scene consultant.

On the German DVD of Johnny Hamlet (Quella sporca storia nel west, 1968), Castellari states that he’s working on a new western (called The Badlanders), starring his favorite actor Franco Nero in the lead again, also revealing that Liam Neeson and Ethan Hawke were eager to play a part in it. Later rumors had Mickey Rourke and Quentin Tarantino being involved. It has been quiet around the project for a while now.

Castellari is mainly known for his westerns, war and crime films, and has been called the “european Sam Peckinpah” and the “action master”. He also directed two very successful war films: Inglorious Bastards (Quel maledetto treno blindato, 1977) and Eagles Over London (La battaglia d’Inghilterra, 1969), and made another shark film called The Shark Hunter (Il cacciatore di squali, 1979).

Castellari cameoed as a Nazi general in his film Inglorious Bastards; Quentin Tarantino had him reprise the role in his film Inglourious Basterds (2009) which was inspired by it. —Wikipedia

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Coheed 2.5

17Dec12

If there is a disappointment to this film, it’s that for a director like Castellari who can make great looking actions scenes, it’s not really that action packed. What makes up for it is that, filtering the post apocalypse and gang films from the States into a single 90 minute or so entity, the dated but imaginative look and tone of the film is far more memorable and creative than a lot of ‘original’ films, even if the idea of a gang of hockey players bringing hockey sticks against gangs armed with guns and blades is completely ridiculous. I wouldn’t even call it so-bad-it’s-good, despite some very silly but amusing parts, because I find that that term and its use in this post-Birdemic internet era is exceptionally cruel, hipster snark most of the time, and that films like this, despite their flaws, have a charm and are at the best of times, like this film, far more well made than their ripped off premises would suggest.

m. noone likes this

HKFanatic

22Aug11

This is an awkward Italian mash-up of "Escape From New York" and "The Warriors." The main character is named Trash and is played by a 17 year-old bodybuilder with no previous acting credit. So, yes, you should see it.

m. noone likes this